Towboats are a certain type of boat used for water sports, such as skiing, wakeboarding, or most recently, wake surfing. Towboats designed for towing skiers in water sports activities such as wakeboarding, water skiing, or wake surfing are generally designed with hull bottoms and hull forms that create distinct wake shapes, that cater specifically to the desirable characteristics. Wake surfing is a relatively new water sport, and it is vastly different than other water sports such as skiing or wakeboarding. Contrary to other water sports, wake surfers do not hold onto a tow rope that is attached to the boat. Rather, they utilize a wake board to surf a wake that is created by the towboat moving through the water. However, desirable wake characteristics for a wake surfer are vastly different than the characteristics desired by a wake boarder, or skier, since wake surfers prefer to “ride” the cresting wake close behind the boat without the use of a towrope, and traditional water skiers usually prefer a softer and flatter wake, while the wake boarder generally prefers a tall wake that act as a “ramp” to jump off of when crossing the wake behind the boat. Wake surfing is a new type of water sport that is becoming extremely popular, and the desired wake shape is rather difficult to achieve with traditional boat hulls.
Since wake surfing is relatively new, and the characteristics of the desired wake shape are very specialized, building a purpose-built boat hull useful for only this type of water sport would limit the boat's utility for other tow boating activities, such as skiing, and wakeboarding. Building a purpose-built wake surfing boat would also severely hinder the boat's performance for pleasure cruising, as the wake surfing boat's hull characteristics would negatively affect its ability to travel at moderate or high speeds. Consequently, there is a need to design a boat hull that can adequately create distinctive wake shapes for both wake surfing water sports, and traditional skiing and wakeboarding water sports.